An Always Situation
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: "You're an architect," he says. "You're…the architect of this neighborhood. Why…don't you have architect – y things to do, instead of hanging out with me?" (Post S3 Finale)
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah so I'm just very Not Okay after that finale.**

* * *

She gets through the introduction fine. She can be impersonal when she wants to be. Or when she has to be. Whatever. Shut up.

She has no first hand knowledge of the other versions of this crazy game she plays after death, but according to Michael, things are proceeding as they usually did before. The new people are, by and large, filling their roles. She's not sure which one is the _her_ yet, the one who doesn't think they're supposed to be there.

Chidi believes he's earned The Good Place. She knows this from all the times before, but also from when she shows up at the center of town, knowing he'd be there and wanting to…

Well.

Be.

 _Just be near him. That will be enough._

"I was a professor of moral philosophy," he tells her. "I devoted my life to being good. It's…really reassuring to know that there's something after to reflect that. Now tell me. When can I meet Aristotle?"

"A – A – Aristotle," she stammers, "is actually in the Bad Place. You have to be, like, super good to get into the Good Place."

"I'm a better person than _Aristotle_?"

"Okay, don't let your head get too big there, b…" she catches herself. They just met. She can't call him _Bud_. Actually, she can't even really joke with him, either.

* * *

"Can you turn this off?" she asks Janet later, after her fourth or fifth near slip up. Why did they acknowledge that Chidi might accidentally give something away to Simone, and just assume that Eleanor would be able to keep this up? Hell, even Janet is terrible at this, and she's used to it.

"Turn off…your feelings for Chidi?"

"Yes."

"I cannot," Janet said. "If I could do that, I would have stopped myself from wasting hundreds of years fantasizing about Jason."

Eleanor cocked her head. "You're not a…person. So like, when you fantasize, can you…like… _do_ anything about it?"

"Ah. You're asking if I'm capable of pleasuring myself." Janet gives a comprehending nod. "Not in the conventional human sense. But well, I can take these magnets and – "

Eleanor puts her hands up. "Okay, this sounds like the kind of thing I would want all the details on, but I am… _surprisingly_ not interested."

"Probably for the better," Janet says. "It involves colors and concepts you can't see or comprehend."

"…ah."

Eleanor spends probably a week in Afterlife time trying to get all the guesses she has for what that means out of her head. Or rather, put them into the back of her mind. Because she's definitely not interested now but she's also sure she _will_ be coming back to that later.

Michael, bless him, hasn't introduced the soul mate concept in this version, which means Chidi hasn't been psychologically influenced to pair off with anyone. Eleanor is pleased about this. This means he's almost always available when she initiates spending time together.

He turns to her while she's showing him 'archival footage' of former Good Place introduction videos. It's all made up. But she had known that it's exactly the kind of thing he's interested in. "You're an architect," he says. "You're… _the_ architect of this neighborhood. Why…don't you have architect – y things to do, instead of hanging out with me?"

"Oh." She's unprepared for this question, but Michael has given her enough to run with. "Architects don't usually live in their neighborhoods. Because I've gotten this opportunity, I thought hey, why not try to make some friends? And I…" Something is squeezing her heart. She almost forgets to finish, lost in her memories. "And I like you. So I thought 'hey, why not try out the friendship thing with this one'?"

"Well, that's very sweet, Eleanor," he says. "I like you, too."

She spends her nights on a cot in Michael's office. Her office. Chidi gets the clown house. The one she wanted. The one that only existed because just once she'd dared to dream that maybe they were finally getting a future.

They've been robbed of one over eight hundred times.

Some nights, Eleanor doesn't sleep. She just cries. And because this is the motherforking fake Good Place, her tears don't taste like cheese.

* * *

She takes Chidi out on the lake. "This was always a fantasy of yours, wasn't it?" She asks.

"How did you know that?"

"I know everything," she says.

"That must be nice," he replies thoughtfully. "I spent my time on Earth in pursuit of answers. To know so much…"

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," she says. "Sometimes it really sucks."

"That's deep, Eleanor."

He's looking at her in that way. Okay, maybe not _that_ way but enough in the ballpark of _that_ way that makes her want to pull him aside, throw her trust in him like she had way back in Version Two, when all she'd known was that he was somehow the answer. _I had thrown so much at you,_ Michael had told her, _and yet in those few precious seconds, you knew that "find Chidi" would be enough._

She clears her throat, realizing she hasn't responded. "Oh, I don't know if I'd say deep. Just…knowing everything means you know of things that others don't. Memories, experiences…" She shrugs. She hopes it's casual. "This is the afterlife. Here, we literally carry the weight of the world. Janet is probably worse, though. She knows everything anyone has ever done. I just know…other stuff, I guess."

Chidi is staring at her again. "Wow," he says. They float in silence as the sun moves overhead. Chidi looks up at it. Squints. "You know," he begins, making eye contact, "you say you're interested in learning about humans, right? Making friends? Having those experiences?"

Yes. The experiences. Michael had told her about his overalls bit. She'd trotted that one at a party one night, a month or so back. "Oh, yes. It's fascinating to me. Because I'm definitely not a human. Never been to Earth. Nothing."

"I have a…probably weird proposition for you," he says, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees. "Why don't you come to my place a couple times a week? I kinda miss teaching. I can show you the basics of Aristotle, Kant, we can go through the Trolley Problem, kinda like a classroom setting."

Her heart lurches. She stares at him. She realizes when his expression changes to a perplexed one that she hasn't answered.

"I would love that."

* * *

"I love this," Michael says, excitedly moving around the room. "It's perfect. This is how it always happens. _Always_. He offers to help you, and you two grow closer. We're going to fix this, Eleanor. You and Chidi are _going to fix this_."

"But it's different this time," she says. "We've always fallen in love when both of us are up to date, like in Australia, or when we're both in the dark, like in all the reboots. This time I know, and he doesn't, and it's _different,_ and even I know that changing variables in experiments can skew the results. What if it goes wrong this time? What if he ends up hating me?" She feels the tears coming. "I can't do that, Michael. Even if we make it to the Good Place…I would rather have the Bad Place with him loving me than him hating me in Heaven."

"Eleanor," he says, putting his hands on her shoulders, "you had more information last time. Remember? I showed you the memories. You walked into that bar in Canada knowing you guys had been in love, and he had no idea. And you _still happened_ , almost right away. Trust me. It will work out."

"I guess," she says, wiping her nose, then looking up and him and offering a small smile. "Maybe it will."

"No. Wrong." Michael shakes his head. "Not maybe. Always. You and Chidi are an always situation."

She bites her lip. "I just…I keep wondering if maybe we've run out of good luck."

Michael shakes his head again. She knows he's in a human suit. She wonders if, if he keeps doing that, his head might pop off. "You two defined the odds even becoming better people once, and you did it every time. Ditto for you two finding each other. If this was about luck, you would have run out a long time ago. I don't know what it is, but whatever is between you transcends anything we can manipulate. It's…I've existed since the birth of existence, and I don't even understand it. But I trust it. I trust it completely."

She smiles. "Thanks," she says quietly, her voice barely a whisper.

* * *

"Okay, Teach," Eleanor says, bounding across the floor to settle on the couch. She whips out a notebook and pen. "Hit me with it."

Chidi stands in front of a chalkboard. "We're really doing this," he says with a smile.

There's something in that smile that makes her wonder. Not if he knows – he doesn't know – but if maybe something about his reset didn't go _exactly_ as it had all those times before. If maybe something deep in his consciousness understands that what they're about to do is important beyond passing time, amusement, or casual interaction.

Or maybe it's just the faith she has, bleeding through to him the way it had come to her through Michael and Janet.

She returns his smile. "We're really doing this."

"Okay," he said, opening a book he'd had tucked under his arm. "Here we go."


	2. Chapter 2

**So this initially was a one shot, but then my OTHER ideas all sort of made more sense to follow where this story was headed rather than be a separate thing, so I gave it the tweaks needed to fit the two together and decided to go on with it. This fic has gone from a one shot to a three shot, but the third chapter will be fairly short. Just a hop foward in time. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on chapter one. I hope you like this installment as well.**

* * *

They're months into this new experiment.

Eleanor doesn't want to think about how close they are to the end. She believes that the four new humans are bettering themselves, but she has no idea if it's enough or just another case of too little, too late.

Tahani's person still loves to gossip, but he's learned, at least somewhat, that it's real people at the focus. Well, not technically, not since most of the other residents were Janet and Derek's…children…or something…but the _concept_ is sound. He's slowly learning to not rely on the drama of others to make himself feel fulfilled.

Key word: slowly.

They'd completely misread Jason's person. The Bad Place had assumed that the reason they constantly insulted each other on Earth meant they despised one another, but to the contrary, Jason called Tricky Tim "my best friend in the whole wide world my second time through first grade." They were getting along in a way that must be infuriating Shawn.

Simone is in the Bad Place because of her tendency to see people as potential to further her work, even when she doesn't realize it. As much as Eleanor likes her, it makes sense. She remembers what Chidi told her about his relationship with the neuroscientist. When they first met, Simone's eyes had gleamed with excitement when she had told Chidi that he was "so weird." When he broke up with her, she had said it with a feeling of exhaustion, even disgust. It was why she isn't envious of Simone, even though she and Chidi are friends again here, with no idea of the history that was behind them. She knows that as brilliantly as that pairing might have looked on paper, with time and trial it fails just as spectacularly in practice.

But Simone's presence still makes her anxious. She's the reason this all happened in the first place. She's the reason all their souls hang in the balance.

Although…while Chidi didn't sacrifice his happiness – _his personal growth_ – for her to be petty about a previous relationship she has no reason to be jealous of, part of her has still been picturing herself channeling her inner Renee Elise Goldsberry and singing _Satisfied_ in her head at their afterlife wedding.

But those moments pass quickly. Eleanor is a better person than that now.

Speaking of – the person the Bad Place chose to torture her makes little impact compared to the way she's been feeling over the past months, being around Chidi, knowing he's the same man she fell in love with time and time again and is madly in love with now.

* * *

Tahani and Jason, to their credit, are trying. They take turns going out of their way to spend time with her. Tahani combs her hair, continuing on even when there are no tangles, left, because she knows it's soothing. Jason tells jokes. Some of them are funny. Some fall completely flat. But she appreciates them all in a way she knew she couldn't have before Chidi made her a better person.

Before they _all_ made each other better. The ones whose memories remain cling to that.

But as much as Tahani and Jason and even Michael try, Eleanor seeks the most comfort from the person who is neither girl nor robot nor reformed demon.

"I could feel you crying last night," Janet says. "All the other times as well. It's like a drumming in my head."

"I didn't realize you can feel how we feel," Eleanor says.

"Oh, neither did I. This is new. And rather exclusive to you. I wonder if it's because of our shared experiences."

Well. Not shared entirely. She and Jason are, weirdly, trying to wade through those waters again. Janet with every memory of their time together, and Jason with nothing but the glimpses he saw in her void. Eleanor is choosing to view it as a potential for what she might be navigating in the future. With _her_ person.

"Can I ask a personal question?" She asks Janet.

"Of course."

"In any of the other versions," she asks, "did you and Jason ever – "

"I don't know, really," Janet says. "There were no more marriages, I would have that stored. As far as anything else…" she shrugs. "To be honest, I don't think I want to know. Because every time I was reset, it was me and Michael at the beach, and I was…pleading. Begging for him to not go through with the reset. It's a failsafe, completely lacking any true emotion…or that's the idea, at least. I don't want to think about if I had ever done that after getting him back."

"That feeling sucks," Eleanor says. "I would know."

"Yes. You would." Janet gives a nod. "I'm capable of sympathy now. It's interesting."

"Yeah. Sometimes I miss the days when I was dead inside."

"And now you're dead on the outside too!" Janet smiles the smile she smiles when she feels clever. Eleanor gives a half – hearted one in return, out of politeness.

"I thought it would be enough to spend time with him," she confesses after a long silence. "I thought I could be okay with loving him quietly until something happens. Because it's still him. It isn't like he's changed, become someone I don't recognize, someone I don't know." She bites her lip. "I'm the one that's become that to him, even though I haven't done anything." She taps her pencil against the desk. "I want him to love me, too. I guess I'm still pretty selfish."

"No," Janet says. "You're human. There's not a single human that loves that doesn't wish to be loved in return, at least a little bit. Trust me, I know." She taps her temple. "I know everything."

"So tell me this, Janet," Eleanor says. "Can soulmates…change? With the circumstances. If other things are manipulated." She remembers what she saw in the memories, the ones Chidi never got to relive. "Are there even soulmates in the Good Place? The real one? Or is that something Michael just made up?"

"Oh no," Janet says immediately. "The original version was created exactly like the real Good Place. It would have confused me otherwise. I would have been suspicious. You and Chidi weren't soulmates in all of them, but those were the shortest versions, and not by coincidence."

Eleanor cocks her head.

"Every single time, directly or indirectly, you and Chidi not being matched as soulmates made you realize you were in the Bad Place sooner. He tortured you sometimes, sure, but you also were drawn to him. When you were paired with someone else – or something else, it was a dog once – you were in pure misery and no joy. Then there was my bafflement at those two situations that helped you reach the conclusion that you were in the Bad Place: A. you were soulmates with someone who wasn't Chidi, or B. there was no soulmate factor in place at all. It confused me."

"Because it's a real thing."

"It is. And to make it as realistic as possible, Michael tried to get together people that were actual soulmates. But not everyone actually has one. That part was a lie."

"So Tahani and Jason…"

"Actually, Tahani was weird," Janet says. "She had no soulmate at all. Jason's essence was giving off compatibility with many types, so Michael thought he could pair the two of them off and it would work. And it did, in a couple of variations."

"Somehow I'm more confused now."

Janet reaches across the table, placing her hand on Eleanor's. "Honestly, it's not something humans can fully comprehend. But know this. When Michael said you and Chidi are an Always situation, that's the gist of it all. There is nothing we can manipulate to change that."

Eleanor still doubts the chips will fall the same way now, when they aren't both seen as naïve humans. And yet…there have been smiles. Glances. Hands brushing against each other. She's too far gone, too deeply in love, to have any idea if he feels even an inkling of what she does when those things happen. She wants to tell him the truth about them, if only to see where he's at.

She can't tell him, though. Even if those lingering glances and small smiles mean anything. If she tells him, he becomes the very liability that caused him to request the reboot in the first place. He has to come to her first. And she's technically his boss. He would never date his boss. He told her that himself.

 _My heart's breaking, I can't take this, time and space, it sucks, I hate this…_

If they ever make it to the real Good Place, it should come with the ability to get songs that make everything worse out of her head.

* * *

She heads for where he usually goes after lunch – the bridge – and she finds him standing in the middle, arms resting on the wood, staring out at the water. "Hey," she says quietly.

He turns, and his smile makes her knees go weak, just for a moment. "Hey…whoa, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she says. "Just a bit unsteady on my feet. It happens sometimes. Been a long day of making sure everything's gone smoothly."

"I don't know how you do it, Eleanor," he says. "Taking care of all of us here, working to learn about human ethics…" he shakes his head. "I would be working myself into a _state_ with half your responsibility."

He's facing her. Her heart is pounding so loud Janet is probably getting a headache.

"I know there's a Janet in every neighborhood. I don't know if all of the architects are like you. If they aren't, we're lucky to have you with us. You're remarkable."

"Thank you, Chidi," she says, and the smile that comes over her face is much more genuine than polite.

Chidi looks up. "The sky is changing," he says. "Night is upon us. Are you busy, or would you like to go for a walk?"

"I suppose I can spare some time."

He grins.

 _I can't lie, and I can't pretend, boy, I've tried it, bottom line is I still love you, and I hate this._

She silently curses – she can't out loud, anyway – and wonders if in another life this damn song being stuck in her head would be what makes her realize they were in the Bad Place.

"So I was wondering if I could talk to you about something," Chidi says, shoving his hands in their pockets a few minutes into their walk.

"God, yes," Eleanor blurts, glad they're no longer in silence. He's not normally this quiet. Not unless something's on his mind.

He stops, turning to face her again. "I feel like people are watching me."

She tries to predict where this is going. She can't. "O – oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I know Janet and Michael watch everyone. And you, of course, being the architect plus my, well, I hope I'm not too presumptuous in saying we're friends, you would watch me, too, but…" he drops his voice, even though they're alone, "some of the others. Like Jianyu and Tahani. Tahani keeps asking me if I think we would be 'great friends in another life' and Jianyu keeps handing me drawings of pizza accompanied with a sad face."

Eleanor feels a lump in her throat. "Well. You know Tahani. Wants everyone to be her great friend. And Jas…ianyu, he's probably devastated that he grew up somewhere where they don't have pizza."

"I mean, there is pizza in Taiwan…never mind." Chidi shakes his head. "You know that, of course."

"Sure. Yeah. Of course I know that." Eleanor nods. "I'm sure they're probably just interested in you. You're the most educated person here, you're helping me learn about human ethical stuff, I'm sure they're intrigued. You're…intriguing."

"Well. If you're sure that's all it is."

"I'm sure. Very sure. Could not be more sure."

"Well. That does seem very sure." He smiles again. "I was finding it a bit odd, is all. But then again, spending so much time with you probably strikes _them_ as odd."

"Well, hey," Eleanor says, shrugging casually, "Janet and Jianyu have been spending time together. That's definitely more unusual than what's going on with you and me."

"What's going on with you and me?" He repeated, furrowing his brow.

"Well, yeah," she says, wondering if her shrugs were really as casual as she wants them to be. "I mean, this friendship thing we have going on."

"Oh. Right."

She's glad the lighting sufficiently hides her blush.

* * *

"We've got one more month," Michael says, studying the screen. "They're all improving but…" he shakes his head, clicking his tongue, "not enough. _Maybe_ not enough. I really don't know what the judge will say. These results are ambiguous."

"Any improvement should show that people can get better after they die," Eleanor says. She's perched on the desk, legs dangling. "This is still such a small sample size. Chidi would say perhaps too small to get an accurate read on…"

"An accurate read on what?"

"Chidi!" Michael throws his arms out as if Chidi was the Guest of Honor at a party. "Hello you, come on in."

Chidi remains standing awkwardly at the door. "What are you guys doing?"

"Oh." Michael waves his hand dismissively as the screen minimizes. "Just afterlife stuff. The boss here is teaching me. Maybe I can design my own neighborhood one day, isn't that neat? I have no many good ideas."

"Uh. Yeah. Cool."

"Do you like this neighborhood?" Michael asks. "What do you like most about it? Isn't Eleanor brilliant?"

 _Not the time to try and play Matchmaker, Mikey._

"I do. It's…" Chidi shakes his head slowly, walking a few steps into the room. "I never would have imagined things would be this way after we die, but…I do like it."

"Oh, do go on." Michael swings his head around to give Eleanor a grin. She clenches her jaw and shoots him a glare.

"The afterlife is an incredible place," Chidi says. "Normally I'm…agitated. I have stomachaches all the time. And I still am. And I still do. But it's so much…less. When I'm deciding what to do with my time, I'm finding those decisions easy compared to past ones. I used to stress over what bagel to get, or if I should tell a friend that I don't love his boots, or…stuff like that. But here's different. I can sit at home thinking about things that make my brain race, or I can teach Eleanor an ethics lesson. I would much rather teach Eleanor, she likes learning from me, so there. Easy decision. There's normally this awful grinding sound in my head. But since I've been here, it's been quiet."

Eleanor knows that it isn't the afterlife keeping his head quiet. It's her. She's always been able to do that for him. She wonders if she's losing points for feeling pleased. She decides she isn't when she remembers Chidi's words from the last night about how he wasn't scared to be rebooted because he knew she'd care for him.

 _I'm trying, Chidi._

"I am so glad to hear it," Michael said. "We want you to have a place where you feel like home. Sometimes it's the location, sometimes it's a person…" He throws Eleanor a wink. "Sometimes it's an animal and sometimes it's just a…a feeling. But finding that place is so essential. It's the bedrock of forever happiness."

Eleanor feels all the blood rush to her face because Chidi is looking right at her when he replies to Michael. "Yes. If only it's clear what the rules are. What's acceptable. What's weird."

"Oh, my boy." Michael claps him lightly on the back. "I think you'll find that rules here are not as they may appear."

"Right." Chidi gives a stiff nod. "Hey, can I talk to Eleanor about something?"

"Oh, excellent! Of course!" Michael plops down in the chair in the corner.

Chidi raises an eyebrow. "Alone."

"Oh." Michael gets up, straightening his jacket. "Right. Yes. I'll leave you be."

Eleanor is glad Chidi doesn't see the second absolutely obnoxious wink Michael gives her on his way out the door.

He's much more positive than her.

She moves around the desk and drops into the architect's chair, motioning for Chidi to sit across from her. "So what's up, man?"

"Uh, well." He twiddles his thumbs. "I'm feeling very…confused. Conflicted, even. At a moral crossroads."

Eleanor nods. "Okay. Talk to me."

"Did you ever watch _The Sound of Music_?"

 _Lady gives up life of no freedom as a nun to have life of no freedom as mother to a ready made family of a zillion kids? Yeah, I saw it. Couldn't relate._ "I did."

"So, when the main character is afraid that her feelings for the Captain are inappropriate, she goes to her superior for guidance." Chidi rests his hands on the table. "But what if the Captain was her superior? Or the…the head nun was the…object…of her affections?"

"Well, if she fell in love with an elderly nun, or if the head nun was a guy, then that would certainly be a plot twist."

Chidi stares at her blankly, as if she's gone flying right by his point. "My point is…if…if there was someone in the neighborhood that I…found myself drawn to. Found myself…having feelings for. Feelings unlike any I felt on Earth…I would under normal circumstances feel free to pursue that."

"Of course. This is paradise." Eleanor speaks carefully, her mouth feeling suddenly dry. "You would be encouraged to pursue that."

"Okay. But what if the…individual that I had these feelings for…wasn't…human?"

Eleanor spends a solid couple of seconds completely blown away at Chidi having feelings for Janet before she remembers _he thinks you're one of them. Like Janet or Michael._ She swallows.

"Eleanor…" she can tell he's biting the inside of his cheek. "It's just that we've spent so much time together. The walks. The nights at the restaurant. That time I scared you and you pushed me into the lake and we walked home laughing about it. The time the frozen yogurt machine broke and got all in your hair." He grins momentarily. "And…and all the lessons we've had. You've been helping me. And I've been helping you…learn about people. I really feel like we make each other better and when I'm with you my brain doesn't feel like metal in a paper shredder and…" he stops, dropping his head. "And I feel so guilty about it because you aren't human. You're nice to all the residents and for some reason I've let myself feel this…this pull, this almost _magnetic pull_ to you, and it almost feels familiar even though of course I never knew you until I died. And something about it feels…like that home Michael was talking about…" he looks back up before he continues, "but you're the architect."

Eleanor realizes she hasn't said anything in a while.

Chidi continues. "Because you're the architect, I know you have the answers. So please just tell me. Tell me how to turn off these feelings that I have. Tell me I…tell me the idea was for me to have feelings for…Tahani or Simone or Puspa or…" he shakes his head slowly. She can tell he feels lost.

"Just please. Tell me what to do."

She's imagined moments where he tells her he's got feelings for her. Sometimes, her fantasies go almost exactly like this. He tells her this is crazy, she's the architect, it doesn't make sense and it shouldn't be this way but he can't shake the connection they have when they're together, he really truly believes that they were put in the same neighborhood for a reason, that he thinks he's fallen in love with her.

At that point in her fantasies, at _this_ point, she blurts _oh thank fork_ and lunges across the desk, kissing him hard enough to make up for all the times she wanted to and couldn't.

But she doesn't. No amount of rehearsing could have prepared her for how she feels now that it's in front of her. And she does something totally unexpected.

"I'm not the architect," she blurts. "I'm not even…one of them. I'm human. Just like you. This whole charade, it was a test. And if you think we're familiar, it's because we are. We've known each other before. We've been in love. And if you think you love me now, well, I know I love you, because you got your memories erased but I never stopped."

Chidi stares at her, mouth agape, for what could have been a moment and could have been one thousand years on earth, before he speaks again.

"Wait, _WHAT_?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Sooo I actually finished this fic months ago and totally forgot to crosspost it here, so shoutout to the reviewer who made me realize this!**

Eleanor has crawled across the desk and is in Chidi's lap, her hands on the side of his neck. His hands are on her waist, and she can feel his fingers flexing against her. She knows enough about him to know this is him wanting, but still hesitating. Slightly.

She breaks their kiss. "I'm sorry. Was I too forward?"

"You're…you're _human_?"

She nods. "Yeah, I am." She tips her head to the side. "Don't I _feel_ human?"

He nods.

She smiles.

"I feel like I should have a stomachache," he says. "This is definitely a situation where I could have a stomachache. But…I don't."

"Because we're soulmates, Chidi."

"Soulmates." A corner of his mouth turns upward. "I…soulmates are real."

"Yes."

"And I have one."

She nods.

"And…it's you."

She nods again, suddenly nervous, suddenly afraid she's handled this completely wrong. But that anxiety dissipates a moment later when he's kissing her again, and even though he doesn't remember her, he's still the same person in the same body and reboots clearly don't wipe muscle memory because he's moving his hands over her in the same way she knows he's done many times before.

There's a commotion by the door, and their lips separate as they look frantically toward it. Eleanor is fully prepared to see someone who would sound some alarm and blow this whole thing, so she's slightly less horrified than Chidi to see Michael.

Michael, with a grin on his face that would put that stupid cat from Alice in Wonderland to shame.

"Um…" Chidi says, glancing between Eleanor and Michael, seemingly attempting to figure out how to explain this away.

Eleanor is straddling him in a chair. There isn't much he can do to convince Michael that "this isn't what it looks like."

"Oh my…" Michael claps his hands together. "You two…you're…hot diggity dog!" He made a fist and punched the air triumphantly.

"Hot…diggity dog?" Eleanor raises an eyebrow.

Michael points at her. "You said it too! In the…the reboot, the one before this one. He kissed you and you said it. I can prove it."

"I believe you," Chidi says.

"Yeah, me too," she agrees. "Now, um…"

"Oh, this is fantastic," Michael gushes. "I knew it. I told you that you and him would always make it. Oh, I'm so happy. This is such a great day, I – "

" _Get out_!" Eleanor and Chidi shout in unison.

Ultimately, they're allowed into The Good Place because of the judge. "I'm not supposed to get attached to humans," she says. "That can influence my decision making."

Tahani glances at Eleanor. Eleanor isn't sure where she's going with this, either.

The judge throws her hands up. "Well, I got attached to you. It influenced my decision making. You four get to go."

"Wait…just like that?" Jason asks.

She nods. "To be honest, you four constantly enduring and becoming better people over and over again? You probably would have gained enough collective points. I can't just revamp the entire system without more research. But yeah. I'm just making an executive decision. Good Place on three, ready?"

She lifts her hand.

Eleanor grabs hold of one of Chidi's.

"Wait," Tahani says. "Will…will we be together? In the same neighborhood."

The judge looks almost offended. "Uh. Duh. Each Good Place resident has a place tailored to them. You know that. You've all seen all your memories by now."

That was true. Michael had shown them all. All of it.

Turns out Eleanor _had_ said "hot diggity dog." She still stands by it.

"The Good Place is anywhere we are together," Eleanor says, the realization hitting her, the grin on the judge's face telling her she was right.

"You'll all be together. Janet can come with you. Michael is going to stay with me – for now. Once we figure out how to adjust the points system…"

"He can come live with us?" Jason asks, his eyes lighting up.

"I hope so, buddy," Michael says. "I sure plan on it."

"Are you satisfied now?" The judge asks, lifting a hand again. "Good Place on three?"

Eleanor is still holding Chidi's hand. Tahani grabs her other one. Jason grabs Tahani's.

Janet runs over and grabs Jasons.

The judge smiles. "One…two…three."

She snapped her fingers. Everything went white, then black, then rainbow, then back to white.

And then an office space materialized as if out of nowhere.

Eleanor recognizes the way it smelled.

"Holy fucking sh…"

She trails off, frowning. "Fuck." She looks at the others, eyes wide. "Guys, this isn't…"

The judge appears in front of them, a tiny version floating at eye level. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention. The no swearing thing? That was part of the torture. If people don't want to hear swearing, the language filter cleans it up for them. Cuss all you want. Okay. Bye."

She was gone.

A door opens. A middle aged – well, that was relative, Eleanor supposes – woman appears. "Eleanor? Jason? Chidi? Tahani? Come on in."

They get the clown house. They actually get to live in the clown house again. They get to love each other in the house where they fell in love. For real this time.

For forever.

"I'll ask Janet to bring us the tape," Eleanor says to Chidi, stepping close and wrapping her arms around him. "I want to watch so much of that again."

"Me too," he says. "But, uh…" He kisses her forehead. "But I have something I want to show you first."

"Like, a surprise?" She lifts her head, eyes bright. "Is it shrimp?"

"Not…" He clears his throat. "Well now I'm gonna think it won't measure up to your expectations."

"I guarantee I'll love it." She steps out of his arms and grabs his hand. "Show me. Is it diry?"

He blinks. "No."

"Well, I'll still love it. Probably," she teases.

"Come with me. It's not much. More of a gesture. About us. But…"

She laughs. "Show me, nerd."

Chidi leads her toward the bathroom, and she frowns. Her mind is working in overdrive, trying to figure out what on earth he could have for her _in the bathroom._

He opens the door and gestures toward the counter.

She sees it immediately.

"Oh my gosh." She puts her hand to her mouth. "Jesus, Chidi, you're gonna make me cry."

He stands behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist. "Well, I asked Michael for context on some of the memories, and…I thought you would like this."

She snuggles against him. This was probably the only thing the old Eleanor and this new Eleanor had in common – intense feelings about a toothbrush holder.


End file.
